Veeam CEO role has room for two as company seeks growth
NEW ORLEANS — Veeam Software has changed CEOs for the second time in less than a year.
On the eve of the VeeamON user conference this week, the data protection software vendor elevated two executives into co-CEO positions as it strives to become a billion-dollar company.
Peter McKay, previously COO and president, and Andrei Baronov, co-founder and CTO, will serve as co-CEOs. McKay will retain his title as president and Baronov will continue as CTO. Former Veeam CEO William Largent moves into a new role as chairman of the company’s Finance & Compensation Committees.
The moves come 11 months after Largent replaced Veeam’s other founder, Ratmir Timashev, as CEO, and former VMware executive McKay joined the company as COO/president. Timashev remains with Veeam as a director of the private company.
McKay will lead Veeam’s “go-to-market,” finance and human resources functions, and work with Baronov to drive future growth, according to the company. The go-to-market strategy will specifically focus on the company’s continued expansion into the enterprise and cloud segments, as well as accelerating growth into the Americas and Asia/Pacific markets.
Baronov will oversee Veeam’s research and development, market strategy and product management functions. Largent will be responsible for the oversight of all corporate governance matters, tax structure, investment management and internal audits.
Founded in 2006, Veeam has a goal of becoming a $1 billion revenue company by 2018 and a $1.5 billion company by 2020, McKay said today at VeeamON.
Veeam recently reported its 2016 revenue bookings at $607 million.
“As we continue to grow and scale our business, we need to do it the right way,” McKay said.
Veeam reported about 2,500 global employees at the end of 2016 and is looking to add 800 over the next year, McKay said. The company plans to invest $126 million in marketing in 2017, which is about 20% of its revenue.
Veeam is looking to expand in four specific areas: geographic, platform (physical, virtual and cloud), segment (increased investment in SMB, commercial and enterprise markets) and partners.
Before joining Veeam, McKay was senior vice president and general manager of the Americas at VMware. He was also CEO of startups Desktone, Watchfire and eCredit.
“Peter took the company to the next level,” Timashev said of McKay’s first year at Veeam.
Veeam is growing faster and is more innovative now, Timashev said.
Veeam claims a total of 242,000 customers, and says it is adding 4,000 customers each month.
“There is an unbelievable opportunity in front of us,” McKay said. “We have to be bold.”